Belloc is an ardent, and I mean ARDENT Roman Catholic. His frequent swipes at protestants are a bit obnoxious at times. Nevertheless, it is nice to see that he doesn’t always take himself TOO seriously.
You will observe that the straight way to Rome cuts the Lake of Brienz rather to the eastward of the middle, and then goes slap over Wetterhorn and strikes the Rhone Valley at a place called Ulrichen. That is how a bird would do it, if some High Pope of Birds lived in Rome and needed visiting, as, for instance, the Great Auk; or if some old primal relic sacred to birds was connected therewith, as, for instance, the bones of the Dodo…. But I digress.
-Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome, p.205